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75 Percent Of Consumers Agree You Need to Stop Using Free Email Services For Your Business Email Think it’s convenient to use your Gmail, AOL or Yahoo email address for business? That might be true but it could also be turning away potential clients and harming your professional credibility without you even knowing it. I often receive emails from business owners and entrepreneurs who use free email services like Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo etc. when representing their business. If you’re one of these people, it’s time to change your email addresses to your business domain. A recent survey conducted by GoDaddy revealed that 75 percent of consumers view a professional domain-based email address that matches the domain of a website is extremely important for gaining their trust when purchasing. "You never forget a first impression, either in real life or online. Often your first direct interaction with a customer takes place over email and so looking professional in this context is hugely important," Chief Product Officer with GoDaddy, Steven Aldrich, said. Using free email services gives the impression your business is amateurish and is not trustworthy. "From the moment a consumer views your email address on a business card, your website, or in their inbox, they are immediately going to make judgments about your business, so don't fall into the trap of using a personal address that anyone could get. It detracts from the trustworthiness you're looking to convey," Aldrich continued. People Buy From People They Trust According to the survey, 33 percent of respondents doubt the trust and legitimacy of the business owner while 24 percent would be hesitant to provide their contact information to such a site that uses a free email service address. And ‘yourbusinessname@gmail.com’ doesn’t count. If you want to be taken seriously and build trust amongst your followers, then you need to take your business branding and email reputation seriously too by using an email address such as ‘yourname@yourwebsite.com’. “Using a professional email address that ends with your company’s domain offers you an opportunity to build your brand every time you interact with a customer versus promoting an Internet email giant like Gmail, Yahoo and others.” Says Aldrich. Another interesting result that came from the survey is that using a professional based email address is 3-times more important that being active on social media. Putting Your Best Professional Foot Forward Is More Important Than Ever. In today’s day and age of spammers and other nefarious characters trying to cheat our money away from us, it’s more important than ever to present our legitimate businesses in as much a professional light as possible. You don’t want to look like a spammer You don’t want to appear amateurish You want to build trust with those you communicate with It may seem inconsequential to use a Gmail email address but studies like this prove what I’ve been saying for years where it can have a very adverse effect on the bottom line of your business. Do you want to be respected for being a legitimate, trustworthy and respected business? Then ditch the free email service and start using your website’s professional email address instead. You can still use the Gmail service to send and receive emails this way, you just need to set up the settings as a POP3 account. Have you ever encountered someone who professes to be in business but is using a personal/free email service to communicate with? What was your honest reaction when seeing it? Did it affect your decision to doing business with them?
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